History

1975: The Animal Assistance Foundation (AAF) was founded by Louise C. Harrison. Louise Harrison was a granddaughter of brewer Adolph Coors and Colorado railroad pioneer Harry Collbran and a passionate animal advocate. Louise's goal was to prevent cruelty to domestic animals. In the years before the establishment of the Foundation, she made significant donations to several animal care organizations.

1960s: Louise Harrison personally funded animal programs, especially cat programs during the 1960s. The idea for AAF itself began  in 1975 when Coors was sold as a public company. Louise was a philanthropically-minded person who wanted to give back to the community. In discussions with people she eventually invited to sit on her foundation board, she established the guiding principle for the foundation in directing the governing body to "Take care of the animals." Animals were always a part of her life. Shadow, a donkey, and Ponce de Leon, a burro, lived in a pen behind the historic Peck Hotel in Empire, Colorado which the sisters purchased in 1955. Numerous cats ate dinner outside the back door. Hotel guests brought their dogs, and people could even drop their pets off for the evening on their way to the opera in Central City. Louise was intrigued with the history of Colorado and the Peck family and turned her energy not only to restoring the hotel (which she renamed Hotel Splendide), but also to writing a book, Empire and the Berthoud Pass, which was published in 1964.

1971: Louise Harrison personally funded Wild Horse Annie prior to establishing her foundation, the Animal Assistance Foundation. The Wild Burro and Mustang Act passed in 1971. In 1975, Ms. Harrison took the idea of creating a foundation to Bob Williams, a trust officer at a local bank, which ultimately led to the establishment of AAF, a foundation devoted to issues affecting the welfare of domestic animals.

1976: AAF opened its first neighborhood animal clinic, Queen City Spay/Neuter clinic at 42nd and Tennyson, in northwest Denver.

1978: AAF opened the Capitol Hill Spay/ Neuter Clinic.

1980: AAF was asked to operate the financially strapped Boulder Spay/Neuter Clinic from Boulder Humane Society.

1981: AAF created the Lucky Star Cat Shelter in Lakewood. Regrettably, Louise did not live long enough to see these facilities.

1983: AAF turned over management of the Lucky Star Cat Shelter to the Dumb Friends League, which has since been encompassed in the new Buddy Center in Douglas County.

1990: The Capitol Hill and Queen City clinics were consolidated into the Harrison Memorial Animal Hospital (HMAH) at 191 Yuma in Denver. Shortly thereafter, the Boulder Clinic, was transferred back to the Humane Society of Boulder Valley. In October of 1999, HMAH celebrated its 200,000 spay/neuter operation and continues to provide reduced-fee veterinary service to low-income pet owners.

2000: HMAH was incorporated as an independent public charity with its own board of directors. This administrative move separated the function of direct services from the philanthropic mission of AAF.

2006: New management was sought under a Request for Proposal. The Colorado Veterinary Medical Foundation applied and was awarded the operation of Harrison Memorial Animal Hospital.

2007: The building at 191 Yuma Street was transferred to CVMF/Harrison Center for Animals in 2007.

2008: AAF completed its Model State Study identifying the human/animal connection, the LINK^TM, animal assisted therapy, data collection, unwanted horse, and spay/neuter for dogs and cats as its priorities.

Since its inception, AAF has invested over $50 million in the well-being of animals in the State of Colorado and has provided leadership for numerous collaborative efforts on behalf of animal welfare.